What is it like when a government claims a monopoly on his culture? The real socialism in the former Soviet Union gives an appalling impression about what happens if the state prohibits any private collecting.
Vasily Gerasimov, distinguished expert on the Russian coin scene, provides a close up view of the Russian numismatic world – during socialism and today...
[ more ]

No other city in Germany offers such an accumulation of well-known coin auction houses in a relatively confined space as Munich does. On and around the Maximiliansplatz such important companies are located as...
[ more ]

Would you like to be a millionaire for a day? In Tehran this can happen really fast. Just exchange 100 euros for 3.6 million Iranian riyal. And that won’t be the only thing to surprise you when you visit this 15 million people city.
[ more ]

The renowned Atelier Brückner has designed the new visitors’ centre of the European Parliament in Brussels. Since October 14, 2011 the European Union presents itself in its diversity and unity in 23 languages offering an interactive exhibition...
[ more ]

Do you have any idea where Burg Castle is located? Near Wuppertal, anyone from Southern Germany might associate nothing but industry with. But Solingen and Wuppertal are situated right in the middle of the Bergisches Land, heart of the once so important Duchy of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.
[ more ]

SNG Cop. – these six letters tell the insider everything. The museum world of Copenhagen is an El Dorado for every coin aficionado. First of all, Ursula Kampmann reports on the Coin Cabinet of the National Museum of Denmark.
[ more ]

In terms of numismatics, Copenhagen has much more to offer than ‘just’ the Coin Cabinet. Several coin collections are on permanent display, as in the Thorvaldsen Museum and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Not to forget the hoard finds in the National Museum of Denmark!
[ more ]

Romans and Celts aren’t exactly what come to mind when you think of Northern Spain. I had basically expected this trip to be just a one-time foray into medieval times, with perhaps a few ancient bits thrown in for good measure. But I was completely off the mark – Northern Spain has so much more to offer.
[ more ]

The second leg of our tour through Northern Spain took us to the region that gave us the Reconquista, through the difficult terrain of the plateau and high mountain regions. Forget everything you thought you knew about Spain, and join us as we make our way to Cangas de Onís.
[ more ]

Can you hazard a guess as to which European country is the most mountainous after Switzerland? Austria? Not a chance! It’s Spain. And besides being incredibly mountainous, Spain can also boast the best-preserved Roman city wall anywhere in the world. Join us on the third leg of our incredible trip as we make our way to the Picos de Europa and then to Lugo.
[ more ]

Santiago! Saint James de Compostela! The last few years have seen an incredible renaissance in people making pilgrimages to him. Despite this surge in popularity, we were quite happy to be making our way towards him by car and not by foot, since this meant we could easily make a quick detour to A Coruña to see the last remaining Roman lighthouse.
[ more ]

The English are said to have captured 1,500,000 pounds sterling during their attack of Vigo. That’s a lot of silver! More than enough to make us want to take a peek at the shallow waters of the cove for ourselves in the hopes that something had been left over ...
[ more ]

You’ve probably never heard of Las Médulas. And yet, this site of the most important gold mines of the Roman Empire is now a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The landscape of Las Médulas is staggeringly beautiful, so much so that we were distracted to the point of nearly getting completely lost.
[ more ]

This leg of our journey takes us along the old pilgrimage route towards Santiago. We visit a Mozarabic church in the middle of the mountains, drive over the Rabanal, the pass whose unpredictable weather patterns made it so feared among pilgrims, and arrive in the old capital of Leon, where the ‘Sistine Chapel of Romanesque art’ awaits us.
[ more ]

After a long pause, we’re back with another chapter of our little numismatic trip through Spain. Today we’re visiting Burgos, an important minting site of the Castilian kings. Then it’s on to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, known for the fact that its roast chickens occasionally have a tendency to come back to life!
[ more ]

Our travels through northern Spain are gradually drawing to a close. Today we’re visiting a few famous sites along the Way of St. James, including the mysterious Eunate. Our first destination, however, is the pantheon of the Kings of Navarre, Najera.
[ more ]

Only a few coin cabinets are at the same time centers of research. The Fitzwilliam Museum / Cambridge ranges amongst these. Philip Grierson, Mark Blackburn – they represent the study of medieval numismatics... But there is a lot more going on in Cambridge”
[ more ]

One object next to the other, some curators still think, that’s the art of museology. And they are very surprised, when visitors admit that they found their tour a little bit boring. We need new conceptions to mesmerize traditional and new visitors. The renovated Ashmolean shows how to do it...
[ more ]

No other city in the world has a numismatic scene like London. Companies that have been in business since 1666 operate alongside young enterprises that have achieved a high degree of name recognition in just a few years. If you add the many branches of European auction houses, you can imagine what ‘Numismatic London’ has to offer.
[ more ]

Once she was a flagship of England’s war marine, today Mary Rose tells us of the Tudor era. Many artifacts and an impressive hull will be exposed in a new museum at Historical dockyards in Portsmouth in 2012...
[ more ]

The first stage of Ursula Kampmann’s journey to Greece takes her from Venice to Igoumenitsa and Nicopolis up to Ambracia. Hidden mosaics and fateful padlocks render the area’s visit quite difficult. But there is enough left to discover!
[ more ]

During the second stage of Ursula Kampmann’s journey to Greece, she wades through icy-cold Acheron, River of the Dead, descends to the realm of the dead and visits the oak of Dodona. There she introduces us to the world of ancient oracles...
[ more ]

During her third stage of the journey throughout Greece, Ursula Kampmann visits Ioannina where she meets numismatist Katerini Liampi. The local museum is richly equipped with coins. Great mosques refer to the Ottoman heritage, the Kastro to the “Mohammedan Napoleon”...
[ more ]

The fifth stage of our journey is dedicated to Dion, perhaps the most beautiful excavation in Northern Greece. And Dion was important in antiquity: Alexander sacrificed to Zeus in Dion, before he set out to conquer the world...
[ more ]

What is there to be found in Pherai, the city where once upon a time such beautiful coins were produced, like the ones that reached record prices in Zurich only recently? Does reality match up with the coins’ testimony? But first a trip to Mount Olympus.
[ more ]

Stageira, Neapolis, Mesembria, Maroneia and Abdera – these are today’s destinations. We see magnificent archaeological excavations that are particularly well-kept. On the other hand, we experience some a disappointment. As always, it is going to be a colorful kaleidoscope with impressions from Northern Greece...
[ more ]

Our journey home from Northern Greece to Loerrach took six days – and it was an adventure. This is part one, from Macedonia to Delphi: we visit Pella, suffer a Greek village festival and arrive at the hot sources at the Thermopylae. In addition, Thebes and Chaironea are on our agenda...
[ more ]

Today’s stage takes us to several highlights of the journey: a peak of kindness in Pydna, a touristic highlight in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and a climax of the fight about the Greek austerity package...
[ more ]

It could be the most important archaeological finding of whole northern Greece: an ancient temple of Aphrodite in Thessaloniki. Though it was partly excavated in 2000, neither the excavations go on nor concrete actions are taken to preserve the rests for future generations...
[ more ]

Basel Historical Museum has opened its new permanent exhibition. Objects from collections dating back to the 16th century are focused in this impressive presentation. Among other objects Basel presents medals and coins from the property of Erasmus of Rotterdam...
[ more ]

Keeping your eyes open curiosities of economic history or numismatics occur everywhere as e.g. in the mediaeval town of Sursee and the minster of Beromünster. Ursula Kampmann shows how you can understand by the examples of Sursee and Beromünster how monasteries once organised their finances.
[ more ]

Keeping your eyes open curiosities of economic history or numismatics occur everywhere as e.g. in the mediaeval town of Sursee and the minster of Beromünster. Ursula Kampmann shows how you can understand by the examples of Sursee and Beromünster how monasteries once organised their finances.
[ more ]

Actually, numismatics concentrates on quite a narrow space in Jerusalem. There is the Israel Museum, which accommodates beside its own collection the Israel Antiquities Authority as well. And only a fifteen minutes’ walk from there you will find the exhibition of the Bank of Israel. Follow us today on a visit at the Israel Museum.
[ more ]

Actually, numismatics concentrates on quite a narrow space in Jerusalem. There is the Israel Museum, which accommodates beside its own collection the Israel Antiquities Authority as well. And only a fifteen minutes’ walk from there you will find the exhibition of the Bank of Israel. Follow us today to a visit at the Israel Museum.
[ more ]

Yachts, luxuries, gambling casino – an ambience barely suited for a down-to-earth coin collector? On the contrary, when coming in the off season the Principality of Monaco has much to offer in regard to numismatics, like an attractive coin fair.
[ more ]

The International Numismatic Conference takes place in Warsaw in 2021. We took a look at what Warsaw has to offer from a numismatic standpoint. The three days we spent there were far too little time for that. In this chapter, we visit the Polish Numismatic Society, the POLIN Museum and find out what we missed out on.
[ more ]

The National Museum in Warsaw is preparing its first permanent numismatic exhibition thanks to the patronage of the Count Feliks Sobanski Foundation. The exhibition is scheduled to open in the first half of 2020 – so that visitors to the XVI INC will be able to visit it.
[ more ]

It’s grey, it’s cold, it’s dark. Sometimes you don’t believe that it’s ever going to be light again. Enjoy a little breeze of the Turkish summer in the dead of winter. This diary of some numismatically highly interesting but barely visited sites in Turkey was written in 2009.
[ more ]

Silifke, ancient Seleucia on the Calycadnus, is a small provincial town in the middle of nowhere nearby which once Frederick Barbarossa drowned. Follow us on our way to the ancient metropolis Antioch and into the marvellous grove of Daphne, that even today is in the modern Antiochenes’ favour as an important area for recreation.
[ more ]

Do you know Antep and its fabulous museum with mosaics? If not, I strongly recommend it to you. Antep is a pleasant town where you quickly feel at home. Urfa, ancient Edessa, in contrast, can’t be recommended for women traveling on their own. And if you do, you will need steady nerves.
[ more ]

Only a few images stick to your mind so powerfully as the huge heads of the broken monumental statues of Nemrut Dag. During our trip there, however, we have seen many other things: marvelous rocky landscapes, a magnificent bridge from Roman Times and lots of friendly people.
[ more ]

Ankyra is a name familiar to anyone interested in the history of the Roman emperors. The Monumentum Ancyranum is a magnificent insight into the image cultivation of Emperor Augustus. Turkish Ankara, however, has much more to offer.
[ more ]

You don’t have to introduce Istanbul. Everyone knows the beautiful city at Bosporus River. This was our last stop on our journey across Turkey. After having been to areas with barely any touristic infrastructure it was almost a civilization shock to finally get anything again a tourist would wish.
[ more ]

In the summer 2009 Ursula Kampmann travelled through Turkey – of course searching for numismatic traces as she always does. She condensed her impressions in a diary whose single parts we have gathered here.
[ more ]

How were coins produced in the 16th century? Only few illustrations provide information about that process. One of the most important is a pane featuring the coat of arms of the Schaffhausen mint master Werner Zentgraf...
[ more ]

In 1436, there was a knights’ tournament held at Schaffhausen. That was something of an event back then, but nothing out of the ordinary. It only becomes extraordinary thanks to a detailed record on this competition that has come down to us. Now, there was a reenactment of this famous tournament to be witnessed on the original site.
[ more ]